Publisher uses Xbox 360 footage as "Wii footage would not be of broadcast quality"

Electronic Arts has been rapped by the Advertising Standards Authority for misleading viewers over the graphics of its Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 Wii ads.

The ads featured the sportsman swinging a Wii remote, but showed Xbox 360 gameplay footage at the same time, giving the wrong impression of the visual quality of the Nintendo version of the game.

The publisher explained to the ASA that footage of the Wii game "would not be of broadcast quality" and had included text in the ad that the game was available on multiple formats in an effort to avoid confusion.

"They explained that Wii footage would not be of broadcast quality, and the originating agency had thought it preferable to use the Xbox footage, which was closer to broadcast definition, than to 'up the resolution' of Wii footage to broadcast quality," said the ASA.

However, the ASA upheld the complaint.

"Although we acknowledged that the message 'available on all formats' appeared in the final scene, we considered that viewers would infer from the ad that Tiger Woods was playing the game on a Wii console and the graphics shown behind him were representative of the actual game he was playing," said the watchdog.

"Because viewers would not be able to achieve the graphical quality shown in the ad on a Wii console, we concluded that the ad was misleading."

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